Basketball / B. League

Levanga's 49-year-old veteran Takehiko Orimo to call it a career

Kyodo

Takehiko Orimo, who at 49 years of age is the oldest basketball player in the B. League, will retire at the end of the 2019-2020 season, his club Levanga Hokkaido said Monday.

Orimo, who will enter his 27th career season, will announce his retirement at a press conference on Oct. 1, the Sapporo-based club said on its website. Levanga open their season against the Yokohama B-Corsairs on Oct. 6.

The 190-cm shooting guard played for Toyota in the old Japan Basketball League. In January, he became the first Japan-born player to score 10,000 career points in a domestic league.

He moved to Levanga in 2007, where he has been both a player and president of the team’s management company.

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